


...Like a Wind

by anesor



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Prequel Trilogy
Genre: Character Study, Gen, post-ROTS
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-04
Updated: 2021-01-04
Packaged: 2021-03-14 13:08:26
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,008
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28546113
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/anesor/pseuds/anesor
Summary: Obi-Wan Kenobi has arrived on Tattooine to hide from the Empire and wait to join his brothers and sisters in the Force...
Relationships: Obi-Wan Kenobi & Luke Skywalker
Comments: 2
Kudos: 2
Collections: Shadows of the Clone Wars (NaNo2020 short stories)





	...Like a Wind

I stepped away from the domed home, the breeze carrying sand against my dusty robe with enough force that it hissed. 

Turning back and shifting my pack on my back, I looked back at the Lars water farm, a rarity in the larger galaxy. It was hard for Tatooine natives to believe that water was one of the most common molecules in the universe. It took Ana- _him_ so many years to cut back on hoarding tendencies and see water fountains as not an example of extreme wealth.

Luke will learn as well someday, if he lives free and safe, enemies flowing by as he _looks_ uninteresting.

I felt guilt  about l ink ing up a  self-powered  muffling shield on the infant,  the twist in the flow concealed as much as it restricted conscious actions using the Force . It was a skill I’d learned to capture my Grandmaster, but that never happened. Luke needed to be muted,  and I could feel him poking at the filter already. I hoped to m ake him less noticeable to any Darkside hunters.  I would remove it if needed when he learned to shield.

There were already too many predators  on this planet  to attempt blocking his sensitivity  in toto, and Luke had far fewer protectors than Leia.

I had not expected Owen Lars’ venom. I had thought he might even welcome hearing about Anakin’s adventures. I would have pained me to mourn someone who had not died in the fires as I’d expected.

It wasn’t a s if I could do a formal memorial and funeral for the General and brother since the final fall of the Republic. I would never have been able to watch his body sink down for cremation like a good Jedi… Even less watch the shell die while spitting out his hatred.

But it was clear before I even left the safe harbor of Alderaan, that ‘Lord Vader’ was conquering the Wookie homeworld. 

Somehow, he survived.

I knew it now in the Force. We’d been connected too long and too deeply for me to doubt Vader lived. He  wa s taking everything I’d taught him and use d it to crush innocents on the orders of a monster.

My life was as much a barren windswept plain as this desert ahead of me.

The Force was a bare trickle now. Was it the remoteness of Tatooine from the Core? Was it the many deaths of Jedi and hope, or was it also my own failings?

I marched through the predawn light, toward nothing I understood anymore. 

Into the twilight of the galaxy and darkness of a future with my family all passed, marching away while I would stand as a lone sentinel.

A watchman in the shadows of someone’s mighty empire that will give all its peoples a glorious and peaceful future.

Anyone who believed that didn’t understand empires and how ‘the haves’ got fewer and ‘the have nots’ swell. They assumed they will be in the new elite.

The new elite will have to dance for the Emperor’s amusement, without recourse if he is not satisfied.

Vader will dance too. The emperor will not teach him anything of use for unseating him.

How long will it take for A nakin to open his eyes?

Maul never disowned his allegiance, despite Dooku taking his place. Maul and Vader lived through sheer hatred and Maul only held remnants of care for his brother. Not enough care to keep his brothers safe.

_Vader_ did not even keep his pregnant wife safe.

_ How could I not do what I could? _

I made good time, crossing to the low ridge in the ancient seabed. Pockmarks in the ridge pointed to former caverns, exposed to dry heat for how many millennia?

Something guided my steps to one, one with a smaller entrance, cooler for its bond to rocks deep underground. The air was markedly cooler, the further from the sun I moved.

Lizards moved, contesting my entry, but I carefully carried them closer to the entrance. Glow-rods would provide cooler light. This shelter would do until I found or improved this shelter.

I had much to learn about living on a Hutt world, and I had to wonder if I learned enough.

Unpacking my few possessions was simple enough, one carved chest, a gift from my Master, my journal, a few holos of better times and my usual equipment. I would have to gamble or trade for bedding and homesteading equipment. A vaporator was a necessity, as I doubt the Lars had enough surplus to add two.

Nor did I think it wise to be forced to beg from someone with such hatred for Jedi.

I could not help worrying about his reaction if Owen learned Anakin was the Emperor’s fist, not a dead Jedi. Would he be appalled at the cruelty inherent in the position? Or would he turn the sycophant and give away Luke and Obi-Wan for the E mperor’s gifts ?

Owen did not seem that Dark despite his anger, but I would not tell him that secret.

Unpacking and a nap on the chilled floor and I settled to meditate as the suns began to set. There was a kind of beauty in the stark minimalism of the desert, other concerns dropped away as a soft breeze moved my hair.

The winds would change, there was no stopping them. Years would eventually accomplish what the entire Jedi Order failed at. 

Sidious would die.

No matter what dark magic he unearthed it was always limited as it would not include the Light side as well. Barring violence, I should outlive the man. Anakin definitely should.

At some point the Emperor would pass like a bit of flatulence and the Light will blow in fresh air.

I would guard for that future.

This cave was feeling comfortably homey already. My only tasks were to watch over young Luke, and that study program Master Yoda passed on.

_ A veritable vacation. _

Tomorrow began my new life as the hermit, Ben.

  
  


**Author's Note:**

> Part of the NaNo 2020 collection.
> 
> Star Wars is the property of George and Disney. I make no profit from creating or posting this snippet


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